1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to translucent artistic media. More particularly, this invention relates to translucent artistic media that contain a plurality of translucent image-bearing layers, as well as to methods of making such artistic media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various translucent artistic media are known in which the artistic effect may be appreciated more fully when the media are backlit, e.g., when a source of illumination is behind the medium and an image in the medium is viewed from the opposite side from the source, so that light from the source of illumination shines through the image to the viewer. The stained glass windows of cathedrals are examples of such translucent artistic media.
Translucent artistic media are typically very difficult to reproduce in a manner that captures the artistic effect experienced when the original is backlit. For example, the artist Paul Bramer has won international acclaim for his mastery of the technique of painting on etched glass. Depending on the size of the work, this technique may involve thousands of individual painstaking steps during which a single sheet of glass is repeatedly etched and painted to produce an image. White areas within the image are depicted by the frosted or cloudy appearance of unpainted etched glass. The resulting translucent works may be appreciated even when viewed without rear illumination, but such rear illumination produces an amazingly lifelike three-dimensional effect that is difficult to appreciate in the absence of the backlighting. A number of these translucent artistic works grace restaurants, businesses, and homes throughout the United States, Mexico, and the Pacific Islands.
Efforts to reproduce such translucent artistic media have not been particularly successful. For example, photographs taken of the translucent works of Paul Bramer do not adequately capture the three-dimensional effect experienced when viewing the backlit original, and neither slides nor transparencies prepared from such photographs convey the total artistic effect.